SAAB Salomon Mountain-X Race

Running on trails through the French Alps day after day sounds like a dream, right? Doing it after several hours of a variety of other adventure sports is still exhilarating, but it can be torturously exhausting, too. Last summer's Mountain-X Race in the Savoie region of France put a new twist on adventure racing, incorporating a multisport team challenge with a stage race approach with a heavy focus on individual trail running races.

Starting from the ski town of Morzine, the event began with 29 three-person teams of endurance fiends from France, Sweden, New Zealand, Finland, the UK and the U.S. lining up in a cold rain for an 8K trail running prologue. As would be for all of the five pure runs on the schedule, the prologue was run solo--a real departure from adventure racing, which typically has teams competing as one unit and promotes towing, or "short-roping," slower teammates wherever possible. Teams in the solo races scored aggregate points based on each finisher's rank.

My team--Team Paparazzi, an all-male Colorado trio that included runner/climber Mark Eller and runner/adventure racer Travis Macy--was awed by the prologue's steep profile. We climbed 1,750 feet on muddy and often very technical trails, followed immediately by a precipitous drop down the other side to the village of Les Gets. The magnificent views of Mont Blanc and the contrast between gray and white rock, snow and glaciers above and the green valleys below made every step of the ascent worth the lung-searing effort. The high-speed descent verified our notion that Europeans are either the best downhill runners in the world or just downright crazy.

Le Tour de Slop

Day 2 was all about the bike--and mud, thanks to the previous night's rain. The 50K course offered a little of everything: dirt roads, technical climbs and extremely technical descents, some grueling hike-a-bike ascents, and a few paved roads that had been used for earlier Tour de France courses and still had spray-painted names of past champions. As we pushed hard to ascend the day's last switchbacks, we thought we heard spectators ringing cow bells to cheer us on, but, alas, we soon learned that it was the real deal: cows grazing in a high mountain meadow.

The descent to the base of Les Gets, which marked the finish line of the first biking stage, was an actual downhill mountain bike course. As we followed the muddy, rutted, and banked course, we noticed that riders who were not Mountain-X racers were on downhill bikes and wearing body armor and full-face helmets. We soon learned why as we struggled to stay upright on what was more of a rocky luge course than a bike trail.

The treacherous downhill course at Les Gets would have been enough for one day, but we weren't finished. After we clocked out and biked back to Morzine, we took the gondola to the top of the mountain we had ascended on foot the previous evening. From there, we raced another downhill route, this one longer and even more technical. Fortunately, buffered by the mud's softness, the entire field managed to complete both courses without too much carnage. (And, due to the muddy state of the entire field, we were treated to the rather interesting and somewhat awkward European phenomenon of co-ed--and very cold--showers at Morzine's public swimming pool.)

Nature's Fireworks

We started Day 3 with a 10K trail run on the mountainside near Les Contamines at the base of Mont Blanc. The course went almost straight up 3,000 feet and then descended immediately down a different trail. Many racers used Nordic poles to help them on the steep climbing sections of the course, saving their legs for what was to come in the afternoon. However, on the screamingly steep descent there was no holding back, as the pace picked up to a quad-busting frenzy.

The afternoon mountaineering leg sent us up and over one of the shoulders of Mont Blanc in what adventure racers affectionately call "full conditions." It was, after all, the Fourth of July, so, for the handful of Americans in the race, Mother Nature provided some of her natural fireworks of thunder, lightning, gale-force winds, and even a little snow above 6,000 feet. We made haste as we trekked over the ridge that brought us to the next valley, where we encountered green pastures and the promise of warmth to complete the 15K course.

Splash and Dash

The fourth morning's activities were especially intimidating for runners, even more so than the downhill mountain biking. It began with an 8K canoe on a Class III river used for Olympic-level whitewater courses. Many of the teams flipped their boats with frightening ramifications. But that was just a preview of what was to come, as "part deux" of the morning was 12K of Class IV "hydrospeeding"--whitewater swimming using kickboard-like plastic sleds with inflated tips. We donned wetsuits, helmets and flippers, and held on for dear life in the washing-machine-esque waters.

The first 20 minutes of that frigid adventure reminded me of an invigorating yet somewhat treacherous amusement park ride, but from that point on--despite the fantastic views of historic church spires and steep, narrow canyon walls--it got to be a bit much, for even the hardiest souls. When I finally reached dry land, after flipping head-over-heels several times, I felt like a wobbly drunken sailor, and probably looked the part, too. Fortunately, the rest of the morning was more sedate. After sliding down a steep, carpeted hill and splashing into the small lake in a kayak, we paddled a short and sweet time trial course amid calm water.

Following our cold and wet morning, we were soon warmed by the afternoon's daunting 8K "uphill" running event--a vertical climb of 4,000 feet from the center of Bourg St. Maurice to the ski resort of Les Arcs. The uphill was a grind, and it took two full hours for me to complete the 5-mile course.

"Flat" Does Not Translate into French

Despite the fact that the morning run on Day 5 was supposed to be "flat," the 12K course was hardly that. Fortunately, the route, outside the high Alpine ski village of La Feclaz, was quite runnable, and it came as a welcome change for Team Paparazzi. The trail reminded me of ones I've run in New England, with deep forest, slimy rocky and muddy footing, covered with a smattering of decomposing leaves for added fun. I had my best result of the five runs on this route and our team did well, despite Mark's stomach issues--a condition that bothered several competitors, possibly an after-effect of swallowing water during the previous morning's hydrospeeding.

The afternoon was a potpourri of mountain sports: rock climbing, spelunking, rappelling and the "via ferrata," a dramatic, exposed 1,000-foot cliff face with dramatic views, traversed with the help of steel cables and built-in holds.

C'est Tout

The final day began with a 40K adventure trek/run in the wee hours of the morning from La Clusaz. It included about 10,000 feet of ascent, a rappel, and breathtakingly beautiful scenery around every turn. Teams cooperated up front to help navigate the course, but eventually the eight hours of effort separated the top teams and determined the final standings for the weeklong Mountain-X Race. Team Saab Salomon, comprised of UK fell runners Phil Davies, Ben Bardsley and Chris Near, won the day to become the first British team to win a major international adventure race.

Later in the day, we were treated to what became known as the "ouch relay," organized in a 3 x 2K format on a course with mixed footing and a steep ascent and descent on the outskirts of La Clusaz. After the variety of new sensations the week had brought the runners in the group, we appreciated the familiar burn of intense effort and immediate lactic overload of the interval-like race that brought a fitting conclusion to the exceptional week.

The 2008 Mountain-X Race will be held July 21-26 on an entirely new course in the Savoie-Mont Blanc region of the French Alps. Visit http://www.mountainxrace.com for more details.